The Sky's Lament
by Affrettando
Summary: Two old friends sit down for a chat. VERY WANGSTY, you have been warned. -Oneshot-


SO I KNOW people want me update Addicted, but this one shot has been boiling in my mind for quite a bit. It's a tad reflective with a touch of wangst…

Its setting is pretty obvious if you're read up to AT LEAST the 4th last chapter of Negima.

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The Sky's Lament

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Red eyes lazily traced the path of a hover car drifting in the distance. Getting bored of the spectacle (however, in this day and age, such a view could hardly be considered anything other than ordinary), the scarlet orbs began to follow the shapes and patterns defined by the clouds in the sky.

The gazer's chest heaved, letting out a quiet sigh, before closing her eyes, feeling the warmth of the noon sun prickling against her skin. There were days where the days felt extremely hectic, busy with work and requests that one never had quite time enough to catch their breath for more than a few moments. While sometimes, there were days like today, where every second dragged by as slowly as an eternity, leaving one to one's own devices and silent ponderings.

She_ hated_ days like today.

Days like today, where even the winds were still, leaving the single occupant in a quaint little home in the outskirts of the city. Despite being situated away from the hubbub of city life and closer to the gentle lulls of nature's sounds, she couldn't quite calm her mind. On the contrary, she continuously mulled over her thoughts more than what was actually necessary on days such as this.

She leaned back in her wicker chair, feeling much like the aged person that she was internally, seated on the woven chair on the porch of her very old fashion styled dwelling. Time moved far too slowly on days such like today, she didn't even know how much time had passed before her sharp hearing picked up the sounds of unfamiliar footsteps ringing in her ears. She raised an eyebrow, perhaps, not as unfamiliar as she had thought. How many years has it been? Ten? Twenty? Thirty? She had lost count.

"My, my, not even stirring to greet your guest?" A cold voice sneered, "How rude. Even after fifty years."

Fifty. So that's how long it's been. Without opening her eyes, she responded, "What are you doing here, Evangeline?"

"Just greeting an old friend, did you even need to ask? You really haven't changed at all, bird brain."

Setsuna cracked open an eye to peer at the diminutive vampire as she conjured a chair out of thin air and seated herself across from the half-demon.

"You're not going to at least provide your guest with refreshments?" Evangeline mocked, partially joking.

"I ran out of tea a few months ago." Setsuna shrugged.

Setsuna took the time to scan over the appearance of her visitor. The other girl hadn't changed in the slightest, still perpetually trapped in the form of a young child. Even her taste in clothing remained the same. Setsuna never understood the sorceress' preference for gothic Lolita fashion. Especially after several hundred years.

As for Setsuna herself, she looked merely in her mid twenties. She flicked a stray white hair from her eyes absentmindedly with her hand. Gone were the days where she hid who she was. It got tiring to constantly dye her hair, and contacts were another hassle altogether. In another point in time, she might have been worried of how people would see her. Now, she couldn't care less. Not that it would actually matter anymore. Negi's restructuring of the world had allowed for all kinds of levels of tolerance as many people had to grow accustomed to new types of people, magic and non-magic alike. It wasn't perfect, not all the hate had been stamped out, but such was only natural.

Unfazed, Evangeline merely shrugged and conjured her own pot of tea out of thin air, obviously still relishing the freedom given back to her over a century ago. She offered a delicate teacup to Setsuna, who politely accepted. The two sat in silence for several more minutes before Evangeline decided to break it.

"It's been a long time."

"Yes. It has."

More silence.

"Starting to really feel the years, aren't we?"

"Yep."

The silence resumed.

"Looks like rain."

A nod in response.

"I never took you for a settling down person, really. Birds don't usually have a habit of staying in one place for a very long time."

"I happen to like it here."

Although it was true that she was quite flighty in dwelling, having lived on an airship for at many years, it reached a time where she felt like she had to settle down. _They_ felt like they had to settle down. This house was deemed in the most ideal location to do so.

"You know it was eventually going to happen."

Setsuna stiffened, as for the first time thus far, the vampire's comment elicited a visible reaction from her. Her voice tightened as she responded tersely, "Yeah. I guess I did."

The ensuing silence was the most awkward. Setsuna shifted herself in her seat, away from the view framed by her porch, to face her guest for the first time. "Actually. For a period of time, I was sure that things wouldn't end up the way it did…"

"Provided you didn't get yourself killed, you were bound to eventually outlive her." Evangeline responded. It wasn't cold, or jeering as her regular comments were, just a regular statement of fact. Her neutral expression softened, "I'm sorry."

"You're a bit late. About thirty-six years, in fact." Setsuna responded matter-of-factly.

However calm her outward appearance was, she was in turmoil internally as wounds that would never heal in a life time were rubbed raw once again through this conversation. Had it really been thirty-six years? Had Konoka really passed away that long ago? Her memories flooded back to her as she recalled the end of her high school days, college, the adult years, the wedding and the many joyful days succeeding.

The couple had wed one hundred, twenty-two years ago, and lived happily for the following eighty-six years. For the most part, at least.

Setsuna's mixed heritage was a mystery. It was unsure of how she would eventually live out the rest of her life. The demons she hailed from were immortal, while humans were evidently not. It was unclear how her years would pass.

At the time, she was merely content. Content to be with Konoka, while nothing else mattered. Setsuna herself, wanted nothing more than to grow old with her lover. The years beyond death did not matter, as there would be no reason to live without Konoka. There were days which she worried she would vastly outlive the princess, but her charge quelled those fears with calming reassurances.

The first few years seemed to pass by normally enough until several decades crossed and it was clear that her aging process was not quite what she had expected it to be.

Then Negi passed away. It was unexpected, as he was the youngest out of all the members of the class. Following which, their number of friends remaining slowly diminished.

Konoka watched as her love grew older and frailer with time as well. She watched as Konoka grew sick and weak with age. All the while, hating herself, hating the youthfulness her body remained in. She felt a fool, thinking that she would be happy in love, and yet the fates had foiled her once again. Despite everything, never for a second did her love fade, and never for a second did Konoka resent Setsuna's retained vigour.

"I'm surprised you didn't commit seppuku."

"Well yeah, I'm surprised too." Setsuna replied softly before taking a sip from her tea.

At some point, perhaps a year or two before Konoka's passing, Setsuna had considered taking her life shortly after her lover's. Konoka, physically weak yet still with all the fiery passion of youth burning internally, forbade such a thing from ever happening. She had made Setsuna swear that she would do no such thing.

"It's a lonely existence." The vampire continued, "From the looks of things, I doubt your life is going to burn out naturally any time soon, if at all. You suspected that, and you knew of the consequences and yet you let yourself become vulnerable to love regardless. Now look what you've done, you've gone and hurt yourself. I did warn you."

"You did. Well there isn't anything that could be done about it now, is there? Besides… I don't think I would have done anything differently if I had the opportunity."

Evangeline sighed, "This is what I hate about people like you. Too romantic."

"You loved once."

The vampire stiffened.

"Once." She responded, tone suddenly cold, indicating the end of the subject.

The vampire took another sip of her tea before temporarily changing the subject, "You missed Kagurazaka."

Setsuna felt a pang of guilt twang inside her. The past almost-forty years had been spent with her drifting in and out of depression. Some days, she would fall into deep slumps, while on others, she would bury herself in her work as a pilot/mercenary. Never did she shed a single tear, however, not since the passing. Her heart had turned to stone that day. Recently, she had recovered from a particularly bad bout of sadness, which spanned a couple years, during which, Asuna seemed to had woken from her slumber.

"Did you send her back?"

"Yeah, like, four years ago."

"Oh." Came the only reply.

"She was quite surprised to find everyone else had passed away."

"Did you tell her I was still around?"

"I didn't think it appropriate." Evangeline waved a hand in dismissal, "Provided the time and circumstance, it hardly seemed appropriate and would be far too difficult to explain."

Setsuna nodded in response. "I hope she'll be happy."

The sky had darkened considerably since the conversation begun. Light raindroplets began to fall as Evangeline stood up and paced the porch a bit, feeling the half-demon's eyes watching her cooly. Evangeline slid the sliding door to the inside of the house open, casually exploring the inside. Her eyes rested on a wall covered with far too many photos to count, some enchanted, others, still frames. She scanned the photos of the couple with a seemingly uninterested expression.

"_She_ looks like she was happy." She noted, her back to the swordswoman who said nothing in response. "Though the two of you are both complete morons, I have to say, I could not see either of you with anyone else."

Crimson eyes flicked up from starting at Setsuna's tea before looking back down again.

"Was she peaceful?"

Setsuna's response wedged in her throat as Evangeline's questions probed at her internally.

"Yes." She managed to choke out, just barely audible. She cleared her throat, steadying her slightly shaking voice, "She told me to be happy… and to move on."

Evangeline stared incredulously for a second before scoffing, "That is just like her to say. She of all people should know you never will."

Setsuna pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why did you have to show up? I'm starting to feel my years just talking to you about all this."

Evangeline raised an eyebrow before throwing her head back and letting out peals of laughter. "YOU? OLD? Bah. You're still but a baby by my standards. I can't even remember how old I'm supposed to be. Six hundred? Seven? And you, you're but a hundred fifty. I can't believe you just said that to me."

Setsuna felt her face redden with embarrassment, "Well it's hard to remember that considering your outward appearance."

The ancient mistress stifled her laughter, before continuing in a slightly more serious tone. "Believe me, though… Thirty-six years is a long time. Let it go."

Setsuna looked blankly up at the dark spellcaster.

"Let it… go." She repeated slowly, not sure of what she just heard.

"You have a very long life ahead of you." Evangeline responded, without the sting that her voice usually carried. "I have been around… for a very… long time. I've had my fair share of sadness, thank you very much. This isn't something that you will be able to carry in your heart for the rest of your life. It will only weigh down your soul. Let it go, Setsuna. And by no means do I mean for you to find anyone else, you just need to make peace with your sadness. You will never be able to find happiness until you accept that Konoka is gone. Thus is the passage of time." Evangeline rubbed her nose, looking slightly sheepish as she continued, "besides, how pathetic would it be if you died of loneliness after being all '_I want my happiness'_ to me way back then? And how sad do you think she would be if she saw you like this?"

Setsuna was left speechless. She watched as Evangeline attempted to advert her gaze with an embarrassed look on her face. Was this dark Evangel, feared by human and demon alike, comforting her?

She felt a droplet hit her hand, she looked around for the source only to find that they were her own tears. She had begun crying without realizing it. The first time in thirty-six years. She tried to stem the flow of tears only to find that they couldn't stop. Evangeline turned around politely, to save the swordwoman's pride.

Setsuna felt like a dam had broken. She felt a wail, long and painful, rip from her chest at the same time as the sky decided to burst open, fat raindrops hitting the ground relentlessly. She sobbed, shrieking curses to the sky, releasing years of pent up anger and sadness. Konoka was gone, and there was nothing to be done. She shouted until her throat was raw and there was nothing more to be said.

The rainfall let up not long after. The sky brightening almost as if the rainstorm had never occurred at all. Something did change, however. It was as if the rain had washed away the rage and sorrow that held her down for decades.

The first step to healing.

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Ironically, as I was typing this story out, **speed killz** churned out a similar idea. NOT QUITE what I had going here, different story, different feelings, but I find it amusing that the basis of both one shots are quite similar.

In the chapter mentioned in my intro author notes, you see a little child that looks just like Setsuna in one of the panels… I wonder if they had a child somehow. However for the sake of this one shot, I excluded that speculation.

On a spoilerish note for the final chapter (notreally), I find it cute how Setsuna never grew taller than Konoka after all. XD

AND OKAY… that was a lot heavier than I had intended, but I think I got out what I wanted to. This was stuck in my head for the longest time and I needed to get it out.

Cheers.


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